The fruits of their labor

A guard, a vineyard owner and prisoners talk about a new farm worker program

Migrant farm workers have worked the fields and orchards of the West for decades. But the economic slowdown in the U.S., along with a crackdown on the border and stiffer penalties for hiring undocumented workers, has resulted in fewer immigrant laborers. Now prisons are stepping in to offer the services of inmates. In Delta County, Colorado, a pilot program sent prisoners to work on three farms in the summer of 2008. This multimedia presentation profiles a guard, a farmer and several inmates participating in the prison’s work program.

I don't think that it should be "legal" to force prisoners to work for a few cents an hour when the prisons are making a bundle of money forcing inmates to work almost no pay, forced to eat rotting food, and being abused. It would be nice to see inmates and farming brought together in a unity that is conscious and well intentioned for everyone, and not just slave labor to pad prison owners' pockets.

cons

matt

Nov 13, 2008 10:55 AM

The con laborers are lucky they are getting paid at all. They sponge off society with free TVs, weight rooms, and three meals a day. I obey the law and I have to pay for my own TV, pay to join a gym, and buy my own food. Making them pick crops is a reasonable thing to ask for the burden they have become to society. The really great thing is that it takes jobs from illegals who will no longer have an incentive to come here.